Highlights from the April 2023 Global Update from the Global Technical and Regulatory Affairs team at the Almond Board of California.

Decree 248 Update

Food and Drug Agency has stopped managing China’s CIFER portal. China’s General Administration of Customs, also known as the GACC, uses the portal for U.S. facility registrations. This recent action creates great uncertainty for those companies waiting to finalize their GACC registrations or for “new” companies waiting to register their facilities so they can also export products to China. USDA, FDA and USTR are currently discussing next steps regarding Decree 248. Until the U.S. government decides which agency will take over the CIFER portal, be sure to confirm that the products being shipped to China are included under your facility’s GACC account. If not, GACC is refusing to add “new” products without approval from the US competent authority in the CIFER system. ABC is in touch with both FDA and USDA regarding this issue. 35 of 70 almond facilities have finalized their registrations. If you have not finalized your registration, please upload the mandatory documents and submit them on GACC’s cifer.singlewindow.cn portal for future review after the USG decides how to proceed in sending these “change requests” to China. For more info, please contact kschneller@almondboard.com.

Transportation and Logistics Update

On March 24, over 100 agriculture and business groups including the Almond Alliance of California sent a letter to President Biden calling for intervention to resolve the protracted West Coast port labor negotiations between dockworkers and port facilities owners. In the letter the groups wrote, “It is imperative that the administration work with the parties to quickly reach a new agreement and ensure there is no disruption to port operations and cargo fluidity. Significant cargo flows have shifted away from the West Coast ports because of the uncertainty related to the labor negotiations.” The letter which was coordinated by the National Pork Producers Council, further requested the Biden Administration appoint a new administration point person given the departure of Marty Wash from the post of Secretary of Labor. The letter comes on the heels of “job actions” taken by the International Longshore and Warehouse Union which caused congestion of trucks trying to enter the Ports of LA/LB. Please contact Brock Densel for more info.

The Turkish Nut Association Coming to California

ABC will be working with the California Walnut Commission to host a delegation of the Turkish Nut Association in June. Turkey is one of the countries we are looking at as part of a global trade strategy. The Turkish government lowered tariffs on imported almonds on Jan 1, 2018, from 43% down to 15%; Turkey then implemented retaliatory tariffs of 20% on US almonds after the US announced Section 232 tariffs on imported steel and aluminum. In 2019, Turkey lowered the retaliatory tariff by 10%, and that remains today. The current applied tariff for US almonds in Turkey is 25%. ABC will be providing more information on the delegation visit as it is confirmed. For more information, please contact Keith Schneller.